The Empress of China 武媚娘传奇 C-drama review

Warning: Super long entry, grab some snacks and a coffee.

Hello everyone, I'm gonna do a review of one of the currently popular Chinese dramas (at least in China, not sure how popular this is with Singaporeans)- The Empress of China or 武媚娘传奇.

TL;DR Verdict: Overrated, sit through the good 96 episodes only if you're superbly free.

What is it about?

The Empress of China tells the story of Empress Wu Zetian 武则天, from her initiation into the palace as a lowly ranked concubine to her coronation as the empress, then finally as the first, and only, woman emperor of China. The story is set in the Tang dynasty where women generally had more rights, were more highly educated and society was more liberal than it would ever be again until Imperial China collapsed in 1912.

Fan Bingbing plays 82 year old Wu Zetian

Who's who in this drama?

A bit of Chinese history

During the Tang dyansty, Wu Zetian (known at this time as Wu Meiniang 武媚娘) enters the palace as a Talented Lady or 才人 to Emperor Gaozong. She remains at this rank until he dies and she was sent to a nunnery as she had no children. But then, dum dum dum... Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong falls for her and sends her back into the palace to be his concubine. After a series of power struggles with the current Empress Wang 王皇后 and Consort Xiao 萧淑妃, becomes Emperor Gaozong's second empress. Then Gaozong dies, Empress Wu usurps the throne from her son and declares herself the emperor of a new dynasty (the Later Zhou dynasty).

She ruled China for 15 years before being dethroned by her son who restored the Tang dynasty, she died in the same year.

Empress Wu was painted by historians as a power-hungry, cold-blooded woman who would kill her own children for power. She was also manipulative and would remove anyone standing in her way to power.

Anyway, being me, I watched the final episode first. I was disappointed with the fact that she only ascended the throne halfway through the final episode because I thought her reign as the Emperor was juiciest part of her story! Dang. Why did they have to cut so much of it out?

Empress Wu making history as she ascends the throne

Soon after she ascends the throne, the scene cuts to troops running about- signs of an uprising by Empress Wu's son, Prince Li Xian. Before the series ends, Empress Wu was seen calmly ordering the rebels to retreat, while her trusted chancellor stays behind to persuade her to abdicate her throne.

"Think about it Your Majesty. You will have to pass your throne to a nephew of the surname Wu to carry on the Later Zhou Dynasty. If even your sons cannot be trusted, what makes you think your nephews can be?"

Perhaps realising that she would be caught in another bloodbath in her nephews' quest to the throne, Empress Wu sighed in resignation as she chooses what appeared to be least deadly option: abdicate the throne to Li Xian, and restore the Tang Dynasty. She realises, at the end of her life, there was no one left to be trusted. Her continuing reign would only bring her more drama, danger, and as she herself says, loneliness, as she has to be wary of everyone around her.

"I'd ruled China for 15 years. These 15 years were the loneliest time of my life."

As an old lady and retired Emperor, Empress Wu in her final scene has a chat with her great grandson. She spoke of how, in a dream, she saw all her dead friends, enemies and families beckoning her to leave with them. She just didn't see her husband(s) among them.

Why? Was it because they were angry with her for seizing the empire? Or was it cos *snigger* she kept numerous young male concubines when she was the Emperor? What really transpired between herself and the two Emperors? So, the final episode got my hopes up really high for the drama...

...and I was thoroughly let down.

1. The characters made no sense.

At the beginning of the drama, Empress Wu (then Lady Wu, 武才人) enters the palace with her best friend, Xu Hui (徐慧, later Consort Xu or 徐贤妃), as concubines to Emperor Taizong. Xu Hui was like an elder sister figure to Lady Wu, advising the brash and naive Lady Wu as they navigate the inner harem. Emperor Taizong did not favour Xu Hui, however, and preferred Lady Wu. Yet something completely creepy happened to Xu Hui in the middle of the show- with no warning, explanation  or foreshadowing whatsoever, Consort Xu Hui has an insane outburst to herself in her room- she was freaking JEALOUS of Emperor Taizong's affection for her best friend Lady Wu.

LIKE WHUT, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY

Consort Xu plots, schemes, kills a servant girl in the process of trying to get rid of her best friend and gain the affection of the Emperor, until Lady Wu finally confronts her and reveals that Emperor Taizong never loved her because he saw through her ugly heart.

Lady Wu and Consort Xu confront each other. Was it a slap or giant facepalm?

(I did some research as I was watching the series, and made an interesting discovery- it was the other way around in Emperor Taizong's history. The real Taizong loved Consort Xu for her literary talents and intelligence, and neglected Lady Wu because despite her beauty, she displayed signs of aggression even at a young age. The regard the Emperor had for Consort Xu was quite telling in how she was promoted to the rank of 贤妃, which made her the second-in-command of the harem, whereas Lady Wu was stuck at the same rank throughout Taizong's reign.)

You'd think with 96 episodes, they'd at least have some kind of backstory to why Xu Hui became the way she was. Maybe she was devoid of love her whole childhood. Maybe she was too used to being better than her friend, so now she can't stand Lady Wu hogging the limelight. I didn't see any jealousy, anger or resentment simmering in her at all. I didn't even know she loved Taizong so much that she was willing to sacrifice a friendship until suddenly- BAM! Xu Hui decides she hates Lady Wu.

2. It was way too long.

Emperor Taizong took almost 60 episodes to die, and before that happened, there was so much irrelevant nonsense that I skipped almost all of it. I'd like to say my attention span is pretty long but this series was pushing it. From episode 10 to maybe 40 they kept discussing the whole "curse of the Lady Wu" and how it supposedly made Emperor Taizong distrust Lady Wu, yet later decide again he loved her, and brought her away from the palace to protect her? #morecomplicatedthanshakespeare

And there was the story of the deposed crown prince whom everyone thought was gay, and everyone whom you wouldn't care about struggled to become the next crown prince, which were relevant to Lady Wu how? Lady Wu wasn't even involved in the court politics until later when she remarried Emperor Gaozong.

3. The heroine was a disappointment.

I was looking forward to see an angel to demon transformation in Lady Wu- after all, you had to be made of stern stuff to be able to rise as an Emperor, especially when you are not the rightful heir and of the wrong gender. Yet, I was let down again.

The impression I got from the elderly Empress Wu was that she turned into a merciless killer and ruthless ruler not by choice; she was moulded that way by court politics, yet deep down, she felt a sense of guilt towards the men she married. Maybe she didn't love them, but she must have felt remorse.

Yet from day one till the final day she was not only portrayed as a "righteous" (I'm using the term loosely here) heroine who completely lacked caution and wisdom in where she stepped, she was also stupid, and passive. After being betrayed by her best friend Xu Hui and having a miscarriage, I thought I'd finally see juicy stuff- Lady (now Consort) Wu would marry Emperor Gaozong, turn delightfully evil, and bring down Empress Wang and Consort Xiao. But no, instead, she finds herself manipulated by another good friend, Princess Gaoyang, her niece, her sons...basically it was a wonder how she even survived the first 5 episodes.

The all-powerful, shrewd and ruthless female Emperor of China doesn't exist in this series sorry. And I feel like if your protagonist cannot even prop the show up, there's nothing much left worth watching.

4. What was the point of the story again?

If it was to showcase the transformation of a young, innocent girl to a devil woman emperor, see point 3.

If it was to show how Empress Wu was actually a wise, capable woman Emperor, and that her stories were distorted by sexism and patriarchy, then certainly the point didn't come out strong enough.

If it was simply to show another aspect of Empress Wu i.e. her love life and relationships, then my question is, so did she love Emperor Gaozong? She was definitely using him only as a revenge tool at the start, and she even admitted to him at one point that she loved only his father Taizong. But his death scene and Empress Wu's crying scene at his funeral left me very confused.

If it was simply a narrative story describing empress wu's journey in life, then sorry, it was boring.

5. I wanted to see more!

There were so many things left unexplored that could have made the series much more interesting! One of the reasons I loved the Tang dynasty was because it was a period in Chinese history where women enjoyed almost equal footing with men. Besides being well-educated and well-informed of national issues, women could initiate a divorce and remarry if they were unhappy in their marriage.

I would have loved to see the opportunities ladies in the court were given when Empress Wu was the ruler, and the influence they could have over political matters. Sadly, none of these were touched on.

Also, I was still sore over the fact that Empress Wu's time as the Emperor was given only half an episode of air time. She mentioned at the end of the series that she was lonely all these 15 years as she ruled. They should have shown how intelligent, scheming yet merciless Empress Wu was, and the lengths she had to go to the retain her power, killing friend and foe alike to protect herself. That way I would have had a more complete view into her mindset.

Conclusion: Don't waste your time. Unlike The Legend of Zhen Huan, which kept you hooked on every episode, every moment, Empress of China was dull and boring. I did like the costumes and the backdrop though. Or if you really want to watch it, just watch the last episode :) It is the only exciting part.

p/s. I made the character graphics using MS Paint but the photos of the characters don't belong to me. Credit to all places around the internet :)